Can an Electrical Engineering Student Be Expelled for Fabricating Induction Motor VFD Logs?

A university will summarily expel an electrical or power electronics engineering undergraduate, cancel all electric drives and industrial automation laboratory credits, and report the student to the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) for professional debarment for fabricating three-phase squirrel-cage induction motor Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) operating logs, faking inverter voltage-to-frequency ($V/f$) scalar and vector torque-speed control curves, or forging electric drives laboratory instructor verification signatures without operating physical motor testing benches. In engineering curricula accredited by COREN, electric drives engineering—including configuring pulse-width modulation (PWM) inverter parameters, programming carrier frequencies, measuring stator current harmonics using power quality analyzers, and plotting motor torque-speed characteristics under variable frequency regimes—represents a life-critical industrial competency; fabricating VFD drive performance data subverts industrial motor drive design calculations, conceals motor thermal insulation breakdown risks, and violates professional engineering ethics.

Departmental laboratory coordinators and industrial drives testing examiners utilize automated VFD drive memory fault logs to detect fabricated experimental submissions.

1. The electric drives course lecturer audits submitted practical portfolios and identifies mathematically idealized torque-speed curves that ignore low-frequency stator resistance IR voltage drops and inverter dead-time harmonics.
2. The chief laboratory technologist checks the electric drives laboratory sign-in register and confirms that the student never signed out industrial VFD inverters (such as Siemens Micromaster or ABB ACS), digital tachometers, or dynamometer load cells.
3. The technologist checks the VFD drive internal fault history logbook and confirms that no parameter programming sessions or motor startup runs were logged under the student’s assigned testing bench.
4. The student is formally issued an academic query requiring them to perform a live VFD parameter setup, configure acceleration/deceleration ramps, and measure motor slip across variable frequencies.
5. Inability to demonstrate drive keypad programming or replicate torque calculations leads to a formal charge of scientific fabrication and academic fraud.
6. The Head of Department transmits an investigative dossier to the Faculty of Engineering Board and the University Central Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC).
7. The student appears before the disciplinary committee to defend their submissions under constitutional principles of fair hearing.
8. The University Senate considers the committee’s findings and ratifies an order of rustication or summary expulsion, notifying COREN to bar future professional licensure.

Acquiring hands-on competency in variable frequency drive control is essential for electrical engineers who will automate manufacturing plants, mining conveyor systems, and industrial water pumping stations.

• Standardized electric drives laboratory manual with approved VFD motor testing protocols.
• Raw bench workbook recording inverter output frequencies, line voltages, motor RPM, phase currents, and dynamometer torque readings.
• Electric drives laboratory sign-in register confirming equipment allocation and test rig usage.
• Plotted motor mechanical characteristics displaying torque versus speed under constant flux and field-weakening frequency regimes.

Students must record actual experimental measurements honestly, accounting for motor slip and harmonic heating variations, rather than manufacturing idealized drive data.

Under COREN professional regulations and university examination codes, fabricating industrial electric drive testing data is classified as severe academic fraud, carrying mandatory expulsion and total debarment from the electrical engineering profession nationwide.

Maintaining rigorous laboratory ethics ensures that electrical engineering diplomates and graduates develop sound technical judgement required to design and commission industrial electric drive automation systems safely.